Redruth to Europe: part one Brussels

Tintin mural near the Grand Place, Brussels

April 2025

For Tony and I the train journey to Brussels was seamless. For a young woman who had boarded an earlier train than her ticket in Penzance maybe less so. She was politely asked to get off at Bodmin to wait for the correct one, despite our train being nearly empty. We left Redruth at 7.30 am and we were in Brussels Gare du Midi/Zuid by 6pm their time. It was pouring with rain, so we jumped in a taxi only to get stuck in a tunnel as we had hit rush hour: poor weather, time of day and 'c'est jeudi' the driver explained enigmatically. Apparently due to flexible working people only come into the city on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Took us nearly an hour to get to our hotel; when we left it took under twenty minutes to walk back to the station, dragging the noisy suitcases!

Jacques Brel wrote several songs referencing rain in Brussels: Il Pleut 'Les Carreaux', Il Peut Pleuvoir'. I love Brel so it felt fitting to arrive in a downpour. A friend who had lived there said it rained all the time. However, for the rest of our stay the sun shone.

Other famous Belgians we encountered all added to our sense of the place. Tintin and his sense of adventure, surrealist painter Rene Magritte highlighting that things are not what they seem, Pieter Breughel's sense of fun and playfulness, not to mention the prolific mural painters, some quite eye-brow raising.

Magritte and Breughel from Musee des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Mural near Grand Place

We only had two days in Brussels so we set off on foot; it is a surprisingly easy city to navigate. Initially we headed towards the famous, awesome Grand Place/Grote Markt where the tourists gathered and giggled at the nearby Mannekin Pis. The latter is curious small statue of a peeing boy, a symbol of Brussels, who was wearing medical scrubs the day we saw him. Up the road is a museum of his copious costume wardrobe which has been donated from all over the world. We gave that a miss!

But we were delighted by the Art Nouveau facades which sparkled in the evening sun in contrast to the grey ones abutting them and a lasting symbol of economic and industrial boom times. Like so many places, it pays to look up; not always easy when you are map reading as well!

At one time in the nineteenth century, the city had over 50 covered shopping arcades (did the weather play a part in their development?), now there are about eight. So we set out to explore some of them. First stop was Matonge in the lively African quarter where the arcade is devoted to the art of the hair both female braids, extensions and wigs and male barbering. It was Saturday morning and this coiffeuring was a major social event with large numbers of people squeezed into tiny salons, wouldn't be surprised if there were picnics. The Gallerie du Centre was quieter and appeared to be purely for Nail Bars run by Asian staff. The famous, glass domed Galeries St Hubert was heaving with tourists searching for the best chocolates (how to choose?), handbag, antique or waffle. Our favourite was the Gallerie Borthier and its Cafe Litteraire where you can get coffee and cake, fish and chips, shrimp croquettes (thanks Mike for the recommendation), beer, books and antiques. Furthermore it is calm and peaceful with a background hum of conversation in many languages.

Several years too late but we made sure to visit the European Commission. A very impressive complex of glass and concrete buildings representing '440 million people'. It was awesome and very moving. Still haven't got over Brexit. I saw one man have his photograph taken at the entrance with his hand on his heart. In front of one of the buildings is a small garden with several cast concrete statues of ostriches with their heads buried in in the soil. These were commissioned and paid for by the city of Brussels. It's a mystery as to their meaning, symbolism ... Or is it?

We stayed in lovely boutique hotel, Made in Louise, in the Ixelle quarter. One evening we ate in a delicious Moroccan restaurant nearby called Babdar. Sizzling hot vegetable tagine which never cooled and theatrical high poured mint tea. There were several Arab mother and daughters dining together. The final evening was so warm we took a picnic to the Etangs d'Ixelle where everyone was out; the restaurants doing a roaring trade on the street, young people and families gathering in the green spaces, everyone cooing over the Canadian duck chicks. The police were also out in force, politely stopping all young males in cars... Back in our room we got hooked on the series 'Slow Horses' on Tony's ipad!

Magritte Museum

I really enjoyed Brussels. It may not be the most beautiful city, though it has its moments, but it has a lively energy, feels young, multicultural and there is so much to see and hear.

The next morning we headed off to the station for our next leg to Luxembourg. We'd bought our sandwiches and were waiting for our train when a message came through on my phone that our accommodation was no longer available. We remained remarkably calm as the owner or booking.com (hard to know which) made alternative arrangements: 'upgrade', 'same price'. We had little choice but to accept. And so we boarded the train, not really knowing where we would be laying our heads that night... but more of that next time ...

My reading companions for the journey were Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere (good train read) and the superb James by Percival Everett.